The UNOLS Annual Meeting
was held at the National Science Foundation (NSF) in Arlington, VA on Tuesday
and Wednesday, October 13 –14, 2009. The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Jane
Lubchenco, Under Secretary of Commerce and Administrator of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The Annual Meeting also
included reports on fleet renewal plans, agency activities, UNOLS Committees
updates, and a presentation on this year’s accomplishments and goals. Elections
were held for three UNOLS Council positions. Dr. Wilford Gardner of Texas
A&M University was elected for a first term. Dr. John Diebold of the Lamont-Doherty
Earth Observatory and Dr. Bob Collier of Oregon State University were reelected
to second terms as Council members.
Appendices:
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| II |
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| III |
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| IV |
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| V |
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| VI |
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| VII |
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| VIII |
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| IX |
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| X |
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| XI |
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| XII |
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| XIII |
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| XIV |
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| XV |
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| XVI |
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| XVII |
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| XVIII |
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| XIX |
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| XX |
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| XXI |
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| XXII |
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| XXIII |
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| XXIV |
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| XXV |
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| XXVI |
Scientific Committee
for Oceanographic Aircraft Research Report |
| XXVII |
Keynote Address: A Report from Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Administrator
of NOAA |
| XXVIII |
Welcome and Introductions – Vernon Asper, UNOLS Chair, called the
2009 UNOLS Annual meeting to order at 1PM on October 13, 2009 and welcomed
everyone. Introductions were made around the room. The meeting agenda is
included as Appendix I and the attendance list is included as Appendix
II.
Vernon presented a report on, "The Year in Review" (Appendix III) that summarized UNOLS
issues, activities and major accomplishments in 2009. In
2009 some of the activities and highlights included:
·
The UNOLS Fleet Improvement Plan was published! The document is available on the UNOLS
website.
·
New UNOLS Brochure, “The Research Fleet” is now available. Contact the UNOLS Office for copies.
·
The
update of the Research Vessel Safety
Standards was endorsed by the UNOLS Council in March 2009.
·
Fleet Renewal:
NSF’s made their first major award under the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to the Alaska Region Research Vessel
(ARRV) – May 27, 2009
Navy RFP for Ocean Class Phase I/II was announced in
April 2009
Navy announced a solicitation for Ocean Class ship
operators. The proposals are due Nov 2,
2009
Ocean Class Science Mission Requirements (SMRs) –
The Fleet Improvement Committee with input from the community established
values and priorities for the Ocean Class SMRs.
These were shared with the Navy as they move forward with plans for new
vessels.
·
Two workshops were held:
Marcus Langseth Science Oversight Committee (MLSOC) Workshop - August
12-13-2009, Denver, CO – Focus: planning and promoting future operations of R/V
Marcus Langseth
Crew and Marine Technician Recruitment and Retention
Workshop – February 18 & 19, 2009, Austin, TX
·
UNOLS Office moved from Moss Landing Marine
Laboratories to University of Rhode Island – May 1, 2009
·
NRC Study on the “Evolution of the National
Oceanographic Research Fleet” – UNOLS provided presentations and Fleet statistics to the
committee.
·
H1N1 e-Training offered to UNOLS Fleet operators.
·
Revival of the Science Committee on Oceanographic
Aircraft Research (SCOAR). Dan Schwartz was appointed
as the SCOAR Chair.
Federal Agency Reports:
National Science Foundation (NSF) – Bob Houtman provided
a brief report. The ARRA funding was the
driver for a large part of the year for NSF.
With the ARRA funds, NSF was able to support a lot of things that they
would not have been able to do otherwise.
The ARRA funds that supported Geo Sciences totaled $340M, with Ocean
Sciences receiving $114M of those funds.
It resulted in support for additional ship days (~400 days).
NSF is operating on a
continuing resolution. The forecast is that
2011 will be a sparse year for federal budgets.
Office of Naval Research (ONR) – Tim Schnoor provided
the ONR report. His slides are included
as Appendix
IV. Tim reported on the Navy AGOR usage in 2009. The six Navy owned ships had a total of 1718
days with 366 of these days supported by Navy.
Navy-sponsored research on other UNOLS vessels included work on 10 ships
for a total of 351 days.
In 2010 there are 1811 (47%) of the total operating days scheduled on the
Navy owned ships. The Navy has scheduled
473 ship days in 2010.
In 2009 INSURV
inspections were completed on Atlantis,
Knorr, and Kilo Moana. Thompson and Melville are scheduled for their inspections. There were unplanned drydockings for Atlantis, Melville, and Thompson.
When Melville was in the
yard, its work was moved to Revelle. Shipyards are planned for Kilo Moana and FLIP. The Navy will be
looking at the AGOR Z-drives to determine the cause of the problems and what
can be avoided.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – Bill O’Clock provided
the NOAA report. His slides are included
as Appendix
V. Bill’s report covers:
·
FY
2008 Ship & Aircraft Accomplishments
·
NOAA
Ships & Aircraft in FY2009
·
Status
of Okeanos Explorer
·
Status
of Recapitalization Plan
·
NOAA
Survey Vessel (NSV) Study
The FY2008 NOAA accomplishments
included:
·
Operated
21 vessels which provided 4,960 total ship operating days (reported thru August
and planned for September): 3,640 NOAA ship days using OMAO and Program funds
and 1,320 charter days using OMAO and Program funds
·
Operated
12 aircraft which provided 4210 flight hours (reported thru August and planned
for September): 2,430 hours using OMAO
funds and 1,780 hours using Line Office program funds and reimbursable funds.
·
Continued
the recapitalization of NOAA ships:
FSV
5 preliminary design moving forward
FSV
6 requirements being refined in anticipation of funding
Rude decommissioned in March
John N. Cobb decommissioned in August
Okeanos Explorer commissioned in August
Bell M. Shimada (FSV 4) launched in September
PISCES (FSV 3) projected delivery in October
In FY09 there are 19 NOAA
Ships and 12 NOAA Aircraft in operation.
Bill reported on the status
of Okeanos Explorer:
·
May
2008 – Completed Conversion Phase II in Bellingham, WA
·
May
2008 – Ship Integration begins in Seattle, WA
·
July
to August 2008 – Conducted ship shakedown
·
August
2008 – Commissioned in Seattle, WA
·
September
2008 – Completed Mapping Shakedown
·
October
to November 2008 – ROV and Telepresence Performance Acceptance Testing
·
April
2009 – Begin field trials in the Pacific Ocean
NOAA’s Recapitalization
Plan was approved by OMB in September 2008.
The Plan’s recommendation for FY2010 to FY2024 is to replace nine active
NOAA ships with either the Fisheries Survey Vessel (FSV) or NOAA Survey Vessel
(NSV) class and conduct a service life extension on one other active NOAA ship. In response, NOAA was directed to provide to
the House and Senate Appropriations Committees a study that evaluates the
design and operations of future research vessels in the form of a NOAA Survey
Vessel for multi-mission operations, to maximize on-site activities and
modularize for versatile platform availability.
In 2009, NOAA worked to draft and complete the NSV report before sending
it to Congress in mid-year.
The ARRA funding to NOAA
went towards infrastructure. NOAA is
currently operating on continuing resolution.
Bill provided
information on vessel acquisition updates.
Shimada has some acoustic
issues in meeting the ICES curve. They
are working on this and will hopefully have a resolution soon.
The NOAA vessel home port
on the West coast will be moving from Seattle to Newport, Oregon.
Department of State – Liz Tirpak provided the report. The projected date for testing the Department
of State’s new automated on-line clearance request system is the end of
October/early November. A message will be
sent through the UNOLS Office. In the
course of a year, they have about 300 requests.
Liz reported on some changes
at state:
·
Guidance
can now be provided on-line.
·
Maggie
Hayes has retired, but will continue to work on the extended continental shelf.
·
Evan
Bloom is now Liz’s supervisor.
·
Roberta
is still in the office.
United States Coast Guard (USCG) – Jon Berkson provided the
report for the USCG. Healy
is back in port in Seattle and will go into the shipyard in October to install a
multibeam system. The Polar Sea will support the BEST cruise
in the spring/summer 2010.
Fleet Operations in 2009 and
Recommendations for 2010:
Summary of 2009 Operations and
the 2010 Scheduling Process – Stan
Winslow, Ship Scheduling Committee Chair, reported on the scheduling activities
in 2009. His slides are included in Appendix
VI.
In February 2009 the Large ship schedulers met with NSF and ONR
reps at SIO for an initial 2010 scheduling meeting and to make a first cut at
2010 schedule options. The agencies set
priorities. From February to July, schedulers broken down into sub-groups for
scheduling conference calls by ship class.
In May, R/V Melville suffered
a major engineering casualty resulting in approximately six months
out-of-service with major 2009 schedule implications that bleed over into 2010. In July all schedulers met with agency reps
at NSF for a one day meeting. Progress was
made, but there were still many issues to be worked out. In August additional conference calls were
held to work out issues. Double bookings
were eliminated and schedulers were told to post their best LOI. In September, the agencies prepared their
2010 scheduling recommendations for the UNOLS Council and schedulers were allowed
to post their 2010 schedules.
Jon Alberts continued the report and presented charts and graphs
that show the 2010 statistics as well as historical trends (Appendix VII). Charts showing the trends in
fleet usage profile prior to 2000 as well as those since 2000 were
presented. The downward trends in
utilization of the east coast
Intermediates with Regionals (> 120 ft) and west coast Intermediates
and Regionals (>120 ft) could be seen.
NSF is supporting 73% of the
fleet operations this upcoming year (2010).
There are greater than 700 fewer days in 2010 than 2009. The Global ships are at or above capacity. Smaller ships are struggling. Days supported by “other” sources are way
down.
Summary of Agency Recommendations for 2010 Fleet Operations – Bob Houtman reviewed the Agency recommendations for 2010 fleet operations. His slides are contained in Appendix VIII. The agencies wanted to follow the UNOLS process for review of the fleet operations.
The agency recommendations are as follows:
· Langseth will be in maintenance from January to March 2010. There were only 5 cruises planned, but there were conflicts with weather windows, so they decided to have a dedicated maintenance period.
· Endeavor and Oceanus will operate with partial year schedules.
·
There
are Sea-Link submersible cruises on Seward Johnson
· Encourage HBOI to inform the Council on the UNOLS status of Seward Johnson
·
There are “HOTS” cruises on KM, KOK, Wecoma
· Send Cape Hatteras to the Gulf of Mexico
· Encourage operators to reduce costs and seek other funding sources
· Emphasize to Institution-owned ships to decide if they can support their vessel operation.
Discussion:
· Dan Schwartz – He gets phone calls from PIs for Ocean Exploration (OE) cruises for 2010 late in the scheduling process. It is a missed opportunity. He is surprised that OE is putting out a call for proposals in the fall for ship time in 2010. The OE work is for Global ships with ROV support.
· Lind Goad:
Work in the Atlantic is very low and 2011 looks very low for the Intermediates.
The picture is very dismal
Proposal pressure is down.
We don’t have enough work to support all the ships
The community will need to propose work for smaller ships
· Mary Jane Perry – What is the status of the OOI ship time? Linda – There is only about 100 to 150 days for OOI during the construction phase.
· Linda - There are a lot of items not included in the ship operations cost trend charts. She is projecting an over-budget of about $5M and this does not include any lay-up.
· Linda –MG&G separated out the proposals that requested ship time. This was so that there was not a sticker shock on the cost of the proposal.
UNOLS Process on Recommending
Non-Operational Periods – Mary Jane
Perry provided the report from the UNOLS subcommittee regarding the Agency
recommendations for 2010 operations (se Appendix
IX).
In July 2006, the UNOLS Council
was asked to define the criteria and a process for helping the Agencies with non-operational
fleet decisions. The process that was developed and that is
followed is available at:
http://www.unols.org/publications/reports/budget_impacts/NonOp_Process_Recmd.pdf
The criteria call for operations to consider:
· Meeting Science Needs
· Geographic Availability
· Cost of Operations
· Quality of Operations
· Sharing the Pain
· Diversity of Operations.
The UNOLS Subcommittee that reviews the agency recommendations is appointed by the UNOLS Council Chair and is comprised of at least three members from non-operating institutions. The Subcommittee members for this year’s review were appointed in September 2009 and include Vernon Asper (U So MS), Mary Jane Perry (U ME), and John Morrison (UNCW).
The charge to Subcommittee was to provide balanced, fair, and
un-conflicted feedback to the Agencies on the adequacy of the recommendations
and possible alternative scenarios to consider within 30 days. The Subcommittee
shared the draft recommendations with UNOLS ship operators, the Council, the UNOLS
Office and any other interested parties.
Mary Jane reported that this year’s subcommittee agreed with the agencies recommendation on fleet operations for 2010.
Facility Renewal Activities:
Ocean Class Acquisition
Update – Chris McDonald provided the status of the Ocean Class AGOR acquisition effort.
His slides are included as Appendix
X. The slides include
information about:
·
History/Status
of Acquisition Efforts
·
History of Specification Development
·
Acquisition Schedule
·
ONR & UNOLS “At-Large” Representation
·
Possible UNOLS Ocean Class Advisory Committee
·
Proposed Operator Representation
In 2009 the Acquisition
Strategy Report (ASR) was signed on 24 Feb.
The Capabilities Development Document (CDD) was signed on Mar 18, 2009,
and the Source Selection Plan was signed on April 27, 2009.
The status of the
Ocean Class source selection is as follows:
·
Phase I/II Solicitation:
o
Released 24 Apr 2009
o
Proposals received 24 Jun 2009
o
Phase I: Preliminary/Contract Design
§
Contract awards ~ Dec 2009
§
Post award conferences ~ Jan 2010
§
First design reviews ~ Mar 2010
o
Phase II: Detail Design and Construction
§
Contract award ~ FY 2011, Q2
·
Deliveries:
o
1st ship – FY 2014, Q2
o
2nd ship – FY 2014, Q4
ONR appointed Mike Prince as their Research
Facilities Assistant (ONR Code 321RF) as an IPA. Mike reports to Tim Schnoor at ONR and works
with Chris MacDonald at PEO-Ships.
Mike’s contact info is: jonathan.m.prince@navy.mil; office phone at
CIRPAS/NPS 831-384-2776 ext 43; mobile phone 571-329-4761. Mike will represent the interests of ONR and
the broader UNOLS community during the Ocean Class AGOR design and construction
process. He will coordinate with
Operator representatives during design reviews and construction. Mike reviewed his responsibilities (see slides).
Chris reported
that the Navy
plans to work with UNOLS on the possible formation of an advisory committee to
serve as a resource for ONR, NAVSEA, the selected operators and the UNOLS
Community. Selection of the advisory
committee would take place after selection of operator institutions. Navy also plans to include Phase I/II UNOLS
Ocean Class AGOR Operator Representatives in the design reviews.
Discussion:
·
Kenneth Coale – What sort
of input will the operators provide?
Chris – The designs are not set yet.
Operator reps can provide feedback.
·
Dan Schwartz – Is the bridge
design locked in? Mike – He doesn’t
think so.
·
Linda Goad – Will the ships
have z-drives? Mike – Not necessarily.
Regional Class Acquisition Status – Matthew Hawkins reported on the Regional Class
acquisition status. His slides are
included as Appendix XI.
The Regional
Class Research Vessel (RCRV) final design packages from both teams were received
from NAVSEA. The MOU with NAVSEA ended. NSF convened a “Panel of Experts” on October
7-8, 2009. The panel included some of
the original Science Advisory Committee, Naval Architects, Marine
Superintendents, Tech Managers, and Noise Experts. A rigorous design selection plan followed and
single design was successfully chosen. NSF
follow-up actions will be developed based on the Panel recommendations.
The proposed
RCRV schedule is to:
·
Move forward with
“ARRV-like” process:
Phase I - Project Refresh
Phase II - Shipyard Selection
Phase III - Construction
Phase IV - Transition to Operations
·
In late 2009, NSF will
review the Panel recommendations and have discussions with the UNOLS Community.
·
If construction funds
are identified:
Late 2010: Release Solicitation
for “Construction and Operation of the RCRV” > Review Proposals
& Begin Phase I
2012: Shipyard Selection
2013: Construction
2015: Trials
2016: Begin Science Operations
Replacement Human Occupied Vehicle (RHOV) Project – Brian Midson reported on the RHOV project. His slides are included as Appendix
XII. The project is in its 5th
year. During the initial years of the
project when the plan was to outsource the entire effort, the cost estimate
came in at double the price. A new
approach was needed and it was decided to fabricate a new sphere and install it
in the Alvin vehicle. Brian’s slides showing existing and new
components of the RHOV and the sphere fabrication. He showed a short movie clip of the sphere
forging and electron welding.
The current project
timeline is:
UNOLS Membership Votes: Ballots were distributed to UNOLS
Representatives by mail. Elections for the
following UNOLS Council positions will be held during this meeting:
· UNOLS Operator Representative (3 year term)
· UNOLS Council Member At-large (3-year term)
· UNOLS Non-Operator Representative (3 year term)
The slate of nominees is
included as Appendix XV and can also be viewed at: <http://www.unols.org/meetings/2009/200910anu/Slate09.html>.
Break
Consortium for Ocean Leadership – Bob Gagosian provided an
update on Ocean Leadership activities. His slides are included in Appendix XIII.
Bob reported in the Interim
Report of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force dated September 10,
2009. The Policy places an emphasis on stewardship. The Principles include:
·
Ecosystem-Based Management
·
Protect, Maintain and Restore”
·
Minimize adverse environmental impacts
·
Best Available Science
·
Precautionary Approach
Areas of special emphasis include:
·
Resiliency and Adaptation to Climate Change and
Ocean Acidification
·
Regional Ecosystem Protection and Restoration
·
Water Quality and Sustainable Practices on Land
·
Changing Conditions in the Arctic
·
Ocean, Coastal, and Great Lakes Observations and
Infrastructure
The sustainable management of ocean
ecosystems, and mitigation of and adaptation to impacts from climate change,
requires increased capacity to predict, assess and respond to future ocean
risks scenarios
The Ocean Policy science priorities
include
·
Changes in Ocean Productivity
·
Opening of the Arctic System
·
Forecasting and Adapting to Sea Level Rise
·
Observing System Requirements
Bob encouraged everyone
to review the interim report from Task Force.
There will be another opportunity for public comments.
Discussion:
·
Marcia – Will there be
attempts to enact a science policy? Bob
– He was pleased at the amount of science that was in report – he thinks it
will stay.
·
Julie Morris – There is no
mention in interim reports of budgets, but there is science. Bob – Hopefully the report will raise the
profile of oceans to a higher level.
Ocean Observing Initiative (OOI) – Jean McGovern (NSF) provided the OOI report. Her slides are contained in Appendix
XIV. The OOI Construction Phase began in May 2009
with an authorization of $386.4M. In September
2009, Year 1 was funded with ARRA support for $105.93M. The Awardee is Ocean Leadership. The Implementing Organizations are:
·
UCSD (cyberinfrastructure)
·
WHOI (coastal/global)
·
U of Washington (regional)
·
TBD (education)
·
Other partner institutions
Jean reviewed the Year 1 activities which
include:
·
Project Staff up
·
Education Implementing Organization on board
·
Subsystem requirements and detailed design
·
Major procurements underway - Cable Contract
·
Prototypes and
testing
·
Permits and Compliance
Alaska Region Research
Vessel Acquisition Status – Terry Whitledge
(University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF)) reported on the ARRV status. There was a lot of good news this year with
the ARRA funding. They are currently in
the process
of the yard selection and hope to have one by the end of the year. UAF was given permission to purchase the Z-drives
because of their long-lead time for fabrication of about 28 months. There is a ship name selection group and
about 200 name suggestions were submitted.
UAF is very happy with
the ARRV oversight committee contributions.
Their help has been greatly appreciated.
In August a business
review of the ARRV project was conducted and they had good suggestions.
Sea trials are planned in
2013.
R/V Seward Johnson
Status – Shirley
Pomponi (HBOI/FAU) reported that recently Seward
Johnson was selected to support a Brazilian contract. It is a five year award. The ship will support environmental
assessment and monitoring. A science
plan for the project is being developed.
There will be opportunities for students and for US scientists. It was a very difficult decision to make on
removing Seward Johnson from the
UNOLS fleet to conduct contract work. The
ship will still support oceanographic research.
HBOI/FAU is a NOAA Cooperative Institution and is partnering with U.
Miami and UNCW.
Discussion:
Sandy Shor – What is the
future of the HBOI submersibles? Shirley
– HBOI is trying to get a commitment for the sub to do Brazilian work. They are also looking at the next generation
sub that could be worked off multiple platforms. There is another ship that could possibly support
submersible work, Atlantic Explorer.
Interagency Working
Group on Facilities – RDML Kenul (NOAA) provided an update on the 2009 IWG-F
activities and plans for 2010. His
slides are included as Appendix XVI and provide updates on:
·
Federal
Ship news
·
UAS/AUV/Glider
Sub-committee
·
Joint
Arctic Meeting with IWG-OP
·
ORRPIS
Near-term Priority Infrastructure Inventory
Federal Ship News:
Navy ships - The Oceanographer of the Navy’s
Office is working to acquire another vessel under the Modified Repeat Program. In FY 2007, Congress allotted $117 million
for an oceanographic survey ship to be built. The Oceanographer of the Navy’s
Office is also looking to acquire Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in the FY
2012 budget and hopes to partner with other federal agencies. The Floating Instrument Platform (FLIP) just
completed a project off the coast of Hawaii and marine mammal surveys will be
conducted in October.
U.S. Coast Guard ships
- The Healy
is in good condition, the Polar Sea has undergone some upgrades, and the
Polar Star is in caretaker status.
The USCG received $30 million in the 2009 Appropriations toward the Polar
Star but approximately $30 million more is needed to complete the necessary
upgrades. The USCG is conducting a
mission analysis report to evaluate future requirements for icebreakers in the
Arctic
Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) ships – EPA’s vessels R/V Lake Guardian, R/V Lear,
and OSV Bold, are in good condition.
There are changes to the EPA issued Vessel General Permit (VGP) that
will effect over 70,000 vessels, including research vessels and foreign vessels. The VGP does not cover vessels less than 79
feet or commercial vessels unless they have ballast water discharges. If a
vessel wants to discharge water of any kind, a VGP will need to be issued.
NOAA ships - FSV 3 Pisces will
be commissioned on 6 November 2009. FSV
4 Shimada’s delivery date of 4 October 2009 has been delayed. Both Pisces and Shimada are
expected to be operational in FY 2010. Bids
closed for the 5th in series FSV 6 contract on 24 September 2009 and will be
awarded March 2010. FSV 5 is currently
in the design stage. The vessel is expected
to be launched in 2014 and will be ported in the Gulf of Mexico. FSV 7 is being planned to replace the Miller
Freeman for work off Alaska. Rainer, the West Coast hydrographic vessel, will undergo a major service
life extension/repair and will be off line for 12 months. Funding for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) is
in the budget for FY 2010 but not FY 2011.
A subcommittee under
IWG-F was formed on Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) and Autonomous Underwater
Vehicles (UAVs), and Gliders. The purpose
is to conduct interagency meetings related to common life cycle infrastructure,
operations and maintenance, data management, and development of new technology.
An Arctic Joint Meeting with the IWG on Ocean Partnerships is scheduled for December 4th
at the Consortium for Ocean Leadership.
Themes of the meeting include operations, research, compliance, foreign
contacts, and indigenous contacts.
RDML Kenul reported on the ORPPIS: Ocean Research Priorities Plan and
Implementation Strategy. A Near-Term
Priorities (NTP) inventory of infrastructure
was identified that includes:
l
Retired
assets awaiting disposition
l
Currently
operating assets
l
Assets
currently under construction/fabrication
l
Assets
proposed for construction/fabrication in FY 2009 President’s Budget
l
Assets
in conceptual state, potential inclusion in future budget request
Conclusions from the
inventory included:
l
Most
infrastructure is currently operational
l
Vessels
have the longest life span (20-30 years).
Lifespan of most other infrastructure is shorter (3-10 years)
l
Argo
floats, surface drifters, research vessels, and moorings used across nearly all
NTP categories
l
Cyberinfrastructure
and Supercomputing are necessary up-and-coming tools
l
Difficult
to cull an in-depth analysis from the inventory structure and input received
l
Budget
recommendations not possible with information received
l
No
serious impediments in executing the NTPs with the infrastructure information
received
"Science at Sea: Meeting Future
Oceanographic Goals with a Robust Academic Research Fleet" - Ron Kiss
(Webb Institute, retired) and Dick Pittenger (WHOI) provided a report on the
findings of the NRC Committee on Evolution of the National Oceanographic
Research Fleet. Their slides are
contained in Appendix XVII. Ron
reported that the committee’s report
was just published. The committee
roster is listed in the slides.
When the study began,
Navy was preparing an RFP for the design of two new Ocean Class ships and desired
near‐term advice on how
advancements in ocean observing technology and the impacts of rising costs will
impact the future fleet relative to Navy needs. Therefore, ONR requested the
National Research Council (NRC) to appoint an ad hoc committee to review the scientific and technological
issues that may affect the evolution of the UNOLS academic fleet, including.
The findings of the
study are:
·
The U.S. academic research fleet provides an essential,
enabling resource for the nation.
·
Scientific demands on the U.S. academic fleet are
likely to increase in future years. However, aging ships and evolving
technology require fleet modernization and recapitalization to maintain the
nation’s leadership in ocean research.
·
The fleet of the future will be required to support
increasingly complex, multidisciplinary, multi‐investigator
research projects, including those in support of autonomous technologies, ocean
observing systems, process studies, remote sensing, and modeling.
·
Ocean observatories and autonomous vehicles will impact
future vessel design requirements for acoustic communications, deck space, payload,
berthing, launch and recovery, and stability. Servicing ocean observatories and
launching and recovering autonomous vehicles will result in increased demands
for ship time.
·
There is a need for increased ship‐to‐shore
bandwidth, in order to facilitate real‐time,
shore‐based modeling and data analysis
in support of underway programs, allow more participation of shore‐based scientists, and increase
opportunities for outreach.
·
Supporting future research needs will require both
highly adaptable general purpose ships and specialized vessels. Some vessels
should be capable of operating in high latitudes and high sea states. More
capable Coastal, Regional, and Global class ships will also be needed.
·
Development of the NSF‐sponsored ARRV has benefited from
community‐driven ship design, allowing the
users to participate more fully and create optimal designs within cost
constraints.
·
The increasing cost of ship time and economies of
scale associated with larger ships may lead to greater usage of the Global
class vessels, which have laboratories, deck space, and berthing capabilities
that can support multiple science operations.
·
The UNOLS consortium management structure is sound
and is of benefit to research institutions, federal agencies, state and private
interests. The federal agency partnerships that capitalize and support the
academic research fleet, particularly between the Navy and NSF, have a proven
record of cost savings and asset sharing. However, there are many assets that are
not integrated with UNOLS, leading to suboptimal use of the full U.S. research
fleet.
Recommendations:
·
Federal agencies supporting oceanographic research should
implement one comprehensive, long-term research
fleet renewal plan to retain access to the sea and maintain the nation’s
leadership in addressing scientific and societal needs.
·
All future UNOLS ship acquisitions, beginning with
the planned Ocean Class vessels,
should involve the scientific user
community from the preconstruction phase through post delivery of the
ship.
·
The future academic research fleet requires
investment in larger, more capable,
general purpose Global and Regional
class ships to support multidisciplinary, multi-investigator research
and advances in ocean technology.
·
NOAA should identify which of its 13,200 unmet
annual ship day needs could be supported by the UNOLS fleet. NOAA and UNOLS should work together to
develop a long‐term
plan to increase the usage of UNOLS ships in support of the NOAA mission.
·
The NSF Division of Ocean Sciences, NSF Office of
Polar Programs, and the U.S. Coast Guard should improve coordination of ship operations and support between the UNOLS
and polar research fleets.
The final report will be available December 2009. Prepublication copies can be downloaded from www.nap.edu.
2009/2010 UNOLS Goals and Priorities – Vernon Asper presented the status of the 2009 UNOLS goals and the new 2009/2010 UNOLS Goals and Priorities as established by the UNOLS Council (see Appendix XVIII).
2009 Goals and Status:
· Investigate the feasibility of a more flexible UNOLS to meet the needs of additional users – There was a discussion at the 2009 summer Council Meeting regarding work that is in compliance with the Research Vessel designation. The UNOLS Chair will form a subcommittee to explore this topic further.
· Work with the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, the National Research Council, and the federal agencies to ensure that the fleet is right sized and has the right capabilities for ocean sciences in the coming decades - The UNOLS Chair and Ex. Secretary attended the Ocean Leadership meetings.
· Continue to lower barriers to effective use of UNOLS ships caused by disabilities, gender, or other special situations. – Plans for an on-line harassment prevention course are being explored.
2009/2010 UNOLS Goals and Priorities include:
· UNOLS and OPP - Explore the relationship of working with NSF’s Office of Polar Programs to coordinate support for Antarctic Research Vessels.
· Greening the Fleet – UNOLS should explore how to make the present and future fleet more environmentally sustainable. New and existing technologies and practices should be used in the construction, operation, and recycling of research vessels and UNOLS should take a leadership role in promoting a green U.S. research fleet, as we move forward in developing the academic fleet.
Marine Technician Recruitment and Retention – Jon Alberts and James
Holik provided an update on the status of this effort (see Appendix XIX). A
workshop was held in Austin, TX on February 2009. The key topics discussed included an:
With feedback from NSF and the community, UNOLS proposed and was funded to add one full time staff member to the UNOLS Office to conduct and manage a two-year pilot program. At the completion of the two-year pilot program it is expected that the program will be transitioned from the UNOLS office to a UNOLS institution through a competitive proposal process. A centralized Technical Support Manager would provide a focused coordinated effort fleet wide without bias towards any one institution. This would be more effective and cost efficient. It would provide a resource that is not readily available within all technical services groups.
The duties of Technical Support Manager would include:
The candidate for the position is Ms. Alice Doyle.
Discussion:
· Pete Zerr – When we started this effort it was focused on crewing. The ship’s crewing has been a critical issue and the problem hasn’t gone away. We are looking at a two year pilot program when nothing will be done for the crew.
· Kenneth Coale - He echoes Pete’s comments.
· Dan Schwartz –There is a whole set of problems associated with crewing. There is about $12K of training required. He is pessimistic about a crew pool.
· Jim Holik – This new UNOLS model was somewhat based on the OPP model. We are trying to augment the UNOLS operations to introduce flexibility.
· Wilf – The pilot program would be done out of the UNOLS office to avoid any biases, but after two years, it would be transferred to another institution. How would biased be addressed at that point? Jon – Like any pooled equipment programs.
Rolling Deck to Repository (R2R) – James Holik introduced Vicki Ferrini who gave the R2R report. Her slides are contained in Appendix XX.
R2R’s objective is to provide well-documented, high-quality, publicly available data. All underway data are of high value for preservation. Research cruises are staffed by multiple investigators and yield heterogeneous data sets; however, data documentation is difficult and/or sparse. There is little routine QA/QC routinely conducted and it has varied historically depending on operator priorities/capability. Data are not systematically archived at National Data Centers.
Research expeditions involve a variety of data collection activities:
The key components of the R2R data stewardship plan
include:
The R2R deliverables and services include basic cruise metadata and data documentation
and delivery. Training guides will
provide community best practices for data acquisition/reduction. R2R will provide data recovery (original field data distribution) and will support
clearance preparation of data to foreign nations.
R2R has worked to provide community engagement, both
to the operator community and to the science community.
The Pilot Project progress includes:
R2R’s next steps include:
Invite the Fleet to join R2R by routinely
submitting data
Presentations at AGU & Ocean Sciences
Operator community input for implementation
Science community for development of QA protocols
Operator/Chief Scientist Login
Mail list & RSS Feeds
Real‐time
data transmission (MET/TSG)
Data set documentation
Data delivery to NDCs
Event Logger
Automated QA procedures
Day 1 Adjourned at 5:05 pm
Annual Meeting – Day 2
Call Day-2 of the Meeting to Order: Vernon Asper, UNOLS Chair, called Day 2 of
the Annual Meeting to order.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Ship Scheduling Committee (SSC) – Stan Winslow, SSC
Chair, had nothing more to add to his report on day 1 regarding ship
schedules.
Linda Goad presented the
“most gluttonous scheduling award’ to the R/V Thompson.
Research Vessel Operators' Committee (RVOC) – Pete Zerr, RVOC Chair,
reviewed the highlights of the 2009 RVOC meeting, Committee activities over the
past year, and plans for the 2010 meeting.
His slides are contained in Appendix XXII.
Transportation Workers
Identification Credentials (TWIC) are required for unescorted access aboard Atlantis, Knorr, Marcus G. Langseth,
Melville, New Horizon, Oceanus, Roger Revelle, and Seward Johnson. TWIC is not required for Unescorted Access to
Atlantic Explorer, Blue Heron, Cape Hatteras, Clifford
Barnes, Endeavor, Hugh Sharp, Kilo
Moana, Pelican, Point Sur, R.G.
Sproul, Savannah, Thomas G. Thompson, Walton Smith, and Wecoma
The Research Vessel
Safety Standards, Ninth Edition (RVSS) was approved by the Council in March
2009. The current version is available
electronically on the UNOLS website. Pete reviewed the changes made since last
revision (March 2003). The overall
organization of the document was revised.
The marine superintendents were surveyed to
determine the severity of the problem of crewing their respective vessels. The responses to the survey were:
Pete reported on the Clean
Water Act Requirements for Vessels and EPA’s Vessel General Permit (NPDES -
VGP). The permit only limits activities
in “waters of the United States” (extending to the outer reach of the 3 mile
territorial sea”). The permit will
limit, in addition to all the existing regulations like oil, garbage, etc.:
·
Deck
Washdown and Runoff and Above Water Line Hull Cleaning
·
Graywater
·
Chain
Locker Effluent
·
Firemain
System discharges
·
Underwater
Ship Husbandry Discharges
·
Sonar
Dome Discharge
·
Boat
Engine Wet Exhaust
The permit does not supersede
or relieve any otherwise applicable requirements or prohibitions under other
provisions of Federal law or regulations; such as, Ballast Water Management
Plans, garbage disposal, and oil.
Information about ship inspections, monitoring, reporting, and
recordkeeping is included in the slides as well as the Computerized
Maintenance Management System (CMMS).
The 2010 Annual RVOC
Meeting will be hosted by the University of Rhode Island on April 20-22, 2010.
Discussion:
·
Nancy
Rabalais suggested that the issue of “flexibility of ship users.” This is in
regard to better enabling non-traditional users access to the fleet. It should be included on the agenda at the RVOC
meeting.
Research Vessel Technical Enhancement Committee (RVTEC) – Rich Findley, RVTEC Chair, reported on RVTEC activities in 2009 and plans for the RVTEC
Annual Meeting to be hosted by the University of Washington. His slides are contained in Appendix
XXIII.
The RVTEC 2009 Meeting at the University
of Washington included workshops on HiSeasNet, SWAP, Multibeam, and R2R. Some of the agenda highlights included a “Year
in Review” presentation, Retention and Recruitment discussion, Network Security,
and Data Collection Systems.
In other RVTEC related activities, there is a SCORE working group – OceanScope http://www.scor‐int.org/Working_Groups/wg133.htm, a satellite meeting was held to discuss Fleet Broadband, HiSeasNet, alternate C-Band providers, and KVH Trackphone. There is a retention and recruitment working group and RVTEC is represented on the RVOC Safety Committee.
Arctic Icebreaker Coordinating Committee (AICC) – Carin Ashjian (AICC
Chair) could not attend the meeting but she sent a written report that Jon
Alberts read. The report is included as Appendix
XXIV and provides details about:
·
USCGC Healy’s
2009 science season
·
Healy
will enter dry dock at Todd Pacific Shipyard in Seattle WA for maintenance and
upgrades, including the installation of a new Multibeam system.
·
USCGC Polar
Sea was on standby to support Oden
during the McMurdo breakout but her services were not required. She supported work
in the Beaufort Sea. There has science
cruises planned for 2010.
·
USCGC Polar
Star is in caretaker status at the dock in Seattle WA. The CG is waiting
for the results of an engineering assessment study and for a second increment
of funding before proceeding to repair the Polar
Star.
·
Efforts to foster good communication between
science and northern communities continue.
·
The AICC has continued their user debriefs.
·
The AICC has solicited nominations for new members.
The Committee expects to identify five new members who will take their seats at
several time periods between now and January 2010.
·
The AICC met June 24-25, 2009 in Arlington VA and
will next meet December 8-9, 2009 in Seattle, WA.
DEep Submergence Science Committee (DESSC) – Annette DeSilva provided
the report on DESSC activities and
plans for their fall meeting.
In December 2008, DESSC held
their winter meeting at AGU in San Francisco.
A new format for the agenda was introduced and consisted of a half day
meeting that provided highlights of the NDSF operations for the past year. There was also an opportunity for NDSF users to
provide feedback about their experiences in using the Alvin, Jason and ABE. The afternoon of the meeting was devoted to a
workshop that the public was invited to.
It focused on the design of the replacement HOV (RHOV) and its
capabilities. This gave the public an
opportunity to comment and provide feedback.
DESSC’s spring meeting
was in June. This meeting was used as an
opportunity to evaluate WHOI’s readiness for their Preliminary Design Review (PDR)
of the RHOV project. It involved a lot
of pre-meeting reading and evaluations.
The PDR review was followed by a half day regular DESSC meeting that
included discussions on archiving, user debriefs, imaging, and evaluating the
first science cruise of the AUV Sentry.
At the end of September 2009,
DESSC members participated in another RHOV readiness meeting. It went well, and the members continue to
provide comments on WHOI’s RHOV documentation.
DESSC’s December 2009 meeting
will take place on Sunday, December 13th in San Francisco. The same format as last year with a half day
regular meeting followed by a half day workshop is planned. The afternoon workshops will focus on:
·
The
science trial cruise of the RHOV. There
are some constraints that will be associated with the first cruise. A robust, multi-disciplinary program is
required.
·
The
Hybrid ROV, Nereus - Nereus has an 11,000m depth capability
and had a very successfully cruise with Patty Fryer and Tim Shank at the Marianas
Trench.
The committee continues
conduct debriefs of the NDSF vehicle users.
Marcus Langseth Science Oversight Committee (MLSOC) – John Diebold presented
the MLSOC slides provided by MLSOC Chair, Steve Holbrook, who could not attend
the meeting. The slides are included as Appendix
XXV.
MLSOC’s last meeting was in August 2009 in Denver,
CO. It focused on planning a workshop on
the “Future of Langseth.” MLSOC’s next meeting will take place on Sunday, December 13th
in San Francisco. MLSOC continues to
interact with PIs and interface with the operator (LDEO). There will be a call for nominations for
positions opening on the committee.
Langseth has
had ten cruises so far (eight projects) and all were successful. Highlights
have included the first multi-streamer 3D cruise (summer 2008), a long
2D streamer (8 km), high-resolution source, and quality shipboard technical
support. The 2008 and 2009 cruises to date
are listed in the slides. Letters of
Intent for 2010 use of Langseth include work in the Marianas
(47 days), Ontong Java (50 days), and the Aleutians (37 days) for a total of
about 173 days scheduled (89 funded and 84 pending). There
are only two proposals in the system so far for 2011.
The Langseth
operations face some challenges:
To address these challenges, a workshop is being planned
for March 2010: “Challenges and Opportunities in Marine 3D and 2D Seismology.” Steve Holbrook and Graham Kent are the
co-conveners and the meeting will be held in Incline Village, Nevada.
Discussion:
·
Marcia
McNutt – An interesting thing for UNOLS to do is to look at the age of Chief Scientists.
·
John
Diebold – He can provide a list of PIs that are users of Langseth. They get the same
users over and over. About five are less
than 40 years old.
·
Linda
–UNOLS should take this on as a topic and have an open session at the Ocean
Sciences. Young students are being swept
up by industry.
·
Will
Wilcock – you have to convince land seismologists to work on the ships.
·
Sandy
Shor – Are there non-seismic cruises are on Langseth? John – LDEO is meeting with NSF to discuss
the ship’s general oceanography capability (winches, multibeam, etc).
·
Cochran
– What about pre-cruise meetings? Linda
– This is something that NSF would like to see. Paul Ljunggren – Some of the pre-cruise
meetings are taking place at AGU.
·
Dave
Checkley – Engaging younger scientists is not just a MG&G issue, it is for
all of UNOLS.
·
Linda
– Using transits for collecting data and training younger scientists on how to
process data should be considered.
Scientific Committee for Oceanographic Aircraft Research
(SCOAR)
– Dan Schwartz, the new SCOAR Chair, provided the SCOAR update. His slides are included in Appendix
XXVI.
The SCOAR membership as
of October 2009 is listed in the Appendix.
On June 11, 2009 SCOAR held a teleconference meeting. It was their first meeting in over two
years. SCOAR is planning a Town Hall
session during the week of Feb. 22-26, 2010 at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Portland,
OR. The Town Hall meeting will provide
an outreach opportunity and will also include show-n-tell displays. SCOAR will also have a poster in the “Ocean
Technology & Infrastructure Needs for the next 20 Years” session at Ocean
Sciences Meeting.
Dan provided a
description of the CIRPAS facility which includes a Twin Otter, Pelican, and
Unmanned systems. Images of non-CIRPAS
systems and launchers that are used for oceanographic research are included in
the slides. Dan presented a video clip
of an unmanned aircraft vehicle recovery in the Bering Sea on a NOAA vessel.
Discussion:
·
Mike
Prince - CIRPAS is a UNOLS designated National Oceanographic Facilities. They are looking for increased access to
their facilities.
·
Dan
– Launch of an UAV from a ship is easy; the hard part is recovery because there
is so much stuff hanging off the ships. We
should design new ships so that they can accommodate UAV launch and recoveries. They are hoping that the footprint for
recovery will get smaller and smaller.
John Morrison – One way to do recoveries is to use nets.
Break
Keynote Address: Marcia McNutt introduced Dr. Lubchenco, Under Secretary of
Commerce and Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmosphere
Administration (NOAA). Dr.
Lubchenco was on the faculty of OSU from 1977 to 2009. Dr Lubchenco has served on many prestigious
committees and Boards (Presidential Appointee on the OSB, National Academy of
Sciences, and Pew Oceans committee). She
holds at least eight honorary degrees and was the recipient of the Nierenberg
award.
Dr. Lubchenco’s slides are included as Appendix
XXVII. The topics of her talk
include:
NOAA overarching goals for science, service, and stewardship
include:
·
Strengthen scientific
basis for environmental decision-making
·
Improve services: protect
life & property, create economic opportunities, enable food &
environmental security for all Americans
·
Restore oceans and coasts
to be healthy, productive and resilient
NOAA is a mission
agency, but science is at the core. NOAA
has a position of Chief Scientist, but it currently unfilled. It will be filled under this
administration. Science is a
priority. NOAA’s strategic priorities are to:
·
Enhance NOAA’s Climate
Services and Establish a National Climate Service
·
Support Healthy Coastal Communities
and Ecosystems
·
Ensure Sustainable Marine
Fisheries
·
Strengthen Arctic Science
and Service
·
Sustain Satellite Based
Earth Observations
Details on how NOAA plans to address these
priorities are included in the slides.
Dr Lubchenco discussed the Interagency Ocean Policy
Task Force. The Task Force was established
on June 12, 2009 by a Presidential Memorandum.
The Task force is chaired by Nancy Sutley, CEQ, and includes 24 senior
policy officials. Deliverables were
required within 90 Days (Sept 10, 2009) to address a National Policy, the
framework for policy coordination, and implementation strategies. Within 180 Days (December 9, 2009), a Marine
Spatial Planning document is required.
Priorities for the National Policy implementation
include:
NOAA’s appropriation
trends were presented as well as data on the ARRA funding in 2009. NOAA was awarded $830M in ARRA funds. Some of the major NOAA projects that were
supported by ARRA funds include:
The Ocean Policy includes
a recommendation to strengthen and integrate federal and non-federal ocean
observing systems, sensors, and data collection platforms into a national
system and integrate that system into international observation efforts.
NOAA’s fleet recapitalization
plans were reviewed. Two
of seven planned acoustically-quiet Fisheries Survey Vessels (FSVs) are conducting
operations in Alaska and New England. In
a survey of Alaskan Pollock, in shallow waters, a new acoustically quiet
fisheries survey vessel saw 31% more
fish than a conventional ship conducting the same survey. In shallow water, fish showed greater
avoidance of a conventional vessel than an acoustically quiet one. Two more FSVs are expected to be operational
in 2010. One Coastal Hydrographic Survey
Vessel was launched in September 2009. Six additional multi-mission NOAA Survey
Vessels (NSVs) will be placed in service between 2018 and 2024. Okeanos Explorer, commissioned in August
2008, is NOAA’s ship for ocean exploration.
The ship has a ‘telepresence’ capability that allows ‘Virtual’
expedition management with scientists onshore and enables improved outreach to
students, media, and the general public.
The vessel is currently working near the Hawaiian Islands, with an expedition
to Indonesia anticipated in summer 2010.
NOAA and UNOLS already
cooperate on several fronts, including joint research cruises. We also share challenges. The timing of the budget cycle makes
scheduling a challenge. Hopefully the
Ocean Policy Task Force will help in this regard. It is important that NOAA, UNOLS, and the
community work together and speak with ‘one voice’ on Capitol Hill to promote ocean
science.
Discussion:
·
Dan
Schwartz – UNOLS has faced recent challenges in recruiting and retaining crew and
techs. Also, there is a “graying” of the
science community. Is NOAA seeing
this? If so how is NOAA dealing with
this? Dr. Lubchenco – NOAA is facing the
same issues. A third of their scientists
will retire in the next decade. They
haven’t been hiring young scientists. It
is a topic of great concern. With the
state of the budget, there needs to be other solutions, not just money.
·
Marcia
– We have 90 days to react to the Ocean Task Force’s weighty topics. What should the community do? We have been trying to address this in a very
methodical way. Dr. Lubchenco – Many of
the task force recommendations build on the previous studies, but not all of
them. Marine spatial planning is not
totally new. The Task Force will
recommend high level things. These
things will have to be implemented. Public
comments will help. Marcia – Periodic
peer review would be helpful. Community
comments now should not be a substitute for bringing in experts later for peer
review.
·
Sandy
Shor –In marine seismic research, the regulatory requirements are daunting and
a challenge. Dr. Lubchenco – NOAA will
look at the regs to make sure they are not counter-productive.
·
Bruce
Corliss – UNOLS is beginning a greening the fleet initiative. NOAA’s Great Lake ships are green. Dr. Lubchenco – The Great Lakes ships are all
non-petroleum.
·
Mike
Prince – He is glad to hear about NOAA’s recognition of the challenges. Dr. Lubchenco - Both the NOAA and UNOLS ships
have excess capacity and this is due to a funding constraint. If they had more money they would support
UNOLS operations, but they would still have a problem of 1-year funding and the
timing of their funding cycle.
Vernon Asper thanked Dr.
Lubchenco for providing the keynote address.
UNOLS Report – Jon
Alberts presented the UNOLS Report. Slides
are included as Appendix XXVIII. Jon introduced Pam Thompson the new
UNOLS Administrative Assistant and announced that a new Project Assistant has
been hired, Erin Jackson.
Departing Council and Committee members (since Oct 2009) include:
·
Council: Mary Jane Perry, Dave Hebert
·
DESSC: Jennifer Reynolds
·
FIC: Dave Hebert, James Bauer, Newell “Toby” Garfield
·
RVTEC: Bill Martin
·
AICC: Erica Key, Kate Moran
·
MLSOC: Peter
Littlewood
New appointments to UNOLS committees include:
·
DESSC: George
Luther
·
FIC: Allan
Devol, Clare Reimers
·
RVTEC: Rich
Findley
·
SCOAR: Daniel
Schwartz, Steven Ramp, and Roy Woods
(ex-officio)
The UNOLS Membership dues accounting for the past year are:
·
2008/2009 Balance Forward: $ 87.31
·
Membership Dues Collected: $2,950.00
·
Total Income: $3,037.31
·
Expended (Catering, Room rental) $
800.00
·
Encumbered (Catering) $2160.00
·
Dues Available Balance: $
77.31
The UNOLS
Calendar and activities at winter conferences were presented.
Vernon Asper provided the
Council election results: Dr. Wilford
Gardner of Texas A&M University was elected for a first term. Dr. John
Diebold of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Dr. Bob Collier of Oregon
State University were reelected to second terms as Council members.
The Annual Meeting adjourned
at 12:15 pm.